Directing
Mar 7, 1941
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Oscar Molinari
Directing
Biography
Oscar Molinari Herrera (b. Rome, March 8th, 1941, d. Caracas, September 25th, 2017) was an Italian-Venezuelan filmmaker, photographer, artist and writer. Oscar Molinari was part of a generation of young filmmakers who the early 1970's maintained an avant-garde position in the cultural scene in Venezuela. In 1972 he writes and directs the short Ojo de agua (The Fountainhead) with which he receives the award to the Best Short Film at the Cadiz Film Festival (Spain, 1972), the award for Best Short Film at the New York Film Festival (USA, 1972) and a special mention at the Film Festival of Caracas (Venezuela, 1972). In 1973, after his return from Spain, where he established a life-long friendship with Salvador Dalí, he creates the Independent Film Workshop in Caracas alongside Diego Rísquez, Carlos Azpúrua, Carlos Oteyza and Julio Neri. Molinari was one of the founders and organizers of the New Venezuelan Film Festival (Festival de Cine Nuevo Venezolano). In 1974 he travels to Los Angeles, invited by close friend and actor George Hamilton, and enters the University of Southern California where he studies actor direction under Lee Strasberg and animation and editing with Alejandro Jodorowsky. Upon the completion of his studies, he returns briefly to Venezuela to direct his second short film La Bicicleta (The Bicycle). By the late 1970's, Molinari establishes himself in Mexico City and begins collaborating with Alejandro Jodorowsky by creating fotonovelas (photo novels) where Jodorowsky would write the text and Molinari would photograph the narrative. These fotonovelas were included in the popular Mexican magazine Sucesos where Jodorowsky was Chief Editor.
Feature Films (3)
Magaly enters a TV contest looking for Marilyn Monroe look-alikes, pressured by her husband and a money prize of $25,000 to help them overcome their precarious financial situation. During the casting for the contest, Magaly meets Norma, her strongest and cheating competitor, a voluptuous version of Marilyn ; and Rossel, the sponsor, a well-suited millionaire who is sure about conquering her. Looking for an adviser for the contest, Magaly and Arturo find Hector, a transvestite that believes himself to be Monroe's reincarnation. He tries to do with Magaly what he cant do with himself as a man: to become the real Marilyn Monroe. In the process of becoming Marilyn Monroe, Magaly suffers an identity crisis that mimics the life of the mythical blonde.
The Color of Fame
An homage to the painter Armando Reveron, this is the story of a contemporary painter who chooses to live in isolation in a hut alongside the Caribbean Sea. Along with Claudia, his muse, he works using nature as his source of inspiration. Alfredo, a friend and art connoisseur, forces the painter to create a series of paintings for an exhibition in New York that aims at achieving fame and putting him on the contemporary art market. The film presents a tropical perspective of the dilemma between artist and the commercializing of his work.
Karibe con tempo
After the accidental death of her husband, Dominique Vallorie agrees to take over the construction of an important dam on the Orinoco River. She does not know that by accepting to go to Venezuela, her life as a woman and engineer will change. Through a great love story she will assert herself despite all the pitfalls on the way.